Frog and Goat

In honor of Ted Kennedy we made Cape Cods tonight:

(yep, the phone’s camera is not quite awesome)

I have to cease and desist with my use of OTC allergy/sinus medicine for the next 7 days. I have to see an allergist to figure out why I’m having bouts of angioedema. I am NOT looking forward to the next week.

By the way, why do you think the phrase is cease and desist when those words mean the same thing?

Some friends stopped by this afternoon to drop off some food for my sister’s family–sister had surgery on Friday and needs some recovery time so folks are a’cooking for them. I’m going to make a dish for Saturday night–it will be comfort food extraordinaire.

After the friends left with a bag of produce I picked about 1 1/2 hours ago (tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, zucchini, carrots and some canned pickles), the better-half suggested that he make cajun chicken in nests for dinner. He cuts up chicken, makes a wicked cajun sauce and then puts everything over Colavita tagliatelle nests.

When we looked in the pantry we only had two small nests. He said he’d go to the store just to buy another bag because he could see how excited I was about the idea of nests tonight. He’s a good man who knows how to cook.

Have you heard the story of the man who is sitting on a park bench and a dog is sitting next to him? Another man walks up to the seated man and asks if his dog bites. The man responds with No. The dog bites the man who just walked up. The bitten man asks the seated man why he said his dog didn’t bite. The seated man says because that’s not my dog.

I was reminded of this story as I was just walking down the hall. A woman asked me if the water in the water fountain was OK to drink. I said I didn’t know. She said I thought you worked here. I turned around and said I do but I’ve never drank out of the fountain.

She assumed I’d drink water out of a fountain that sits directly outside of the most hellishly consistent bathroom I’ve ever had the misfortune to use. There’s no way I’m going to use a water fountain that is touched on a frequent basis by the people who ruin the bathroom every day. At least I can wash my hands in the bathroom, there’s no way I’m putting my face and mouth anywhere near a water fountain in this building.

More importantly, I consider this one of the dumbest questions I’ve ever been asked. If we were standing outside a squat toilet in outer Crazyistan then I might ask someone about the water, but we’re only in Crazytown, not Crazyistan.

How do you decide when to call someone on their bullshit? Especially when you know calling them on it won’t really make a difference in the bullshit?

Also, one of our AC units fried itself yesterday (repaired in the same day!) but it brings up the issue we’ve been putting off for months–entirely new units. We’ve been saving money for new units because as long as we’ve owned our house (4 1/2 years?) we’ve known we’d have to buy a new system because the first one is old and craptastic. A sales guy is coming next Tuesday afternoon to talk to us and his name is Steve Thomas. Oh how I wish it was THE Steve Thomas.

A good idea occurred to me as I was overwhelmed, yet again, by our stanky bathroom. The next time I interview at another organization I’m going to walk into the bathroom to take a whiff.

The rest areas we used to and from vacation (including the truck stop/convenience store) weren’t as nasty as our office bathroom.

With apologies to Virginia Woolf, perhaps a shed of one’s own is nearly as good as a room.

It just needs some ramps and then I will rock the garden shed!

While standing in the surf watching the better-half and The Niece swim, I had a brilliant idea.

We purchased these from a fisherman:

I made a boil out of some of the supplies we’d brought with us. They were the most amazing shrimp–big, juicy, a little sweet and so very fresh. I told The Niece if I passed out and hit my head she’d know it was because of how good they were. She declined to eat any—I need to work on that kid.

(new pic).

Hi folks, it’s me Simon.

The people have left the building and all I got was a few treats in my bowl. I think I will repay them by sleeping under the bed for a week. That’ll show them.

These last two hours at work are going to be the death of me. I’ve gotten up out of my chair at least 5 times in the last 15 minutes–to stop my head from hitting the keyboard. I hate the sound it makes when a key gets stuck.

I grabbed lunch from Jimmy Johns today (do you have those–cheap and tasty, if a little salty) and as a co-worker and I were getting into my car we were accosted by a woman looking for $8. I could honestly tell her I spent my last $7 because as much as I want a Coke right now, I don’t have enough change to buy one out of the machine. I think that woman has asked me for money before, but at a totally different location. She’s rather distinctive looking. It seems strange to be panhandled in the West End of Richmond. I thought the locals had clamped down on that…you know, by running panhandlers over with their BMWs, Volvo SUVs and Mercedes. Although there is that guy on the off-ramp from I-64 at Glenside. I can’t believe he hasn’t been chased away by the cops…not a safe place to work the street.

Because it amuses me: